NIKKEI VIEW: The Asian American Blog

We ended the week with a flurry of shopping at the famous Flea Market at Aloha Stadium.

Sat. Sept. 22
It’s our last day in Honolulu, but we’re now slowing down. It’s jam-packed, with a trip to the fabled Flea Market that Erin has been raving about since we’ve been planning the trip. It’s a sale that’s [...]

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We didn’t see many geckoes during our visit, but here’s one tiny one we saw next to a sculpture of a gecko, outside Richela’s front door.

Friday, Sept. 21
Another big food day. We’re eating our way across Oahu.
It was also a day of hunting history.
We began the day with Richela, who joined us in a [...]

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Tamashiro Market, a jam packed shop on a busy street corner. Bill took us there for corn flake cookies, which were, as promised, fantastic.

Thursday, Sept. 20
This was a food and friendship day. We got up and had a leisurely morning, hanging around Richela’s condo. Then Erin and I drove past downtown to meet up [...]

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One of the beaches Richela drove us to along the eastern shore of Oahu.

Wednesday, Sept. 19
It was sad leaving Laura and John’s in Mililani – it’s a beautiful and comfortable home, and they were so gracious and generous, it felt like we’ve known them all our lives.
At the same time, we were looking forward [...]

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Hawaiian specialites at Helena’s: (from foregournd, left to right) poi, kahlua pork, a bit of Hawaiian seasoned salt, lau lau, lomi salmon, fried ahi tuna, haupia (with sliced onion, which we ate with the salt), tofu, beef stew and more lau lau.

Tuesday, Sept. 18
We spent the day with Regine, Laura’s twin sister, and the evening [...]

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We had heavenly shave ice at the Waiola corner grocery, which was just a block from where my grandfather had his home and business. The spot now has a high-rise apartment or condo on it, and the location of the Honolulu Stadium next door is now a park.

Monday, Sept. 17
This day was one of discovery [...]

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Joy and Hiroshi kicked off the reunion with a taiko performance. Joy is the cousin who came up to me at a book signing in San Jose, and dropped the bombshell that I have an entire branch of relatives that I never knew about.

Sunday, Sept. 16

The Hanzawa-Sakuma family reunion was a Sunday brunch, held at [...]

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Sunday, September 16, 2007
Yesterday was a long day, and a preview of today’s reunion.
We started with the relaxed morning of papaya and conversation with Laura, but eventually moved on to the day’s work: shopping at Costco and then the Star Market for the ingredients to make our “kakimochi” chips for the party. The chips are [...]

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It’s great to feel so welcomed.
Erin and I arrived late yesterday afternoon at Honolulu Airport and called up Regine Shimomura, a cousin I’d never met. She’s the twin sister of Laura McHugh, who was stuck at a hair appointment. We’re staying at Laura’s home, so one we got the rental car, we called Regina to [...]

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For most people — but I think especially for Japanese Americans, who tend to come from very defined communities bound together by geographic roots, generational branchings and, for many, the shared trauma of internment — meeting a stranger and finding out you’re somehow related isn’t such a big deal. It might be novel, or surprising, [...]

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